Earlier this year, I did a Y-DNA test.? By comparing the test results of two male individuals with the same surname, one can say with certain levels of statistical certainty whether or not these two individuals have a common paternal ancestor.? The surname Leal is found in many countries and there are thousands of individuals worldwide who bear this name.? For more background information on this subject, I refer to my previous messages on the following forum: http://genforum.genealogy.com/leal/.

DO ALL ?LEALS? HAVE A COMMON PATERNAL ANCESTOR?One of the questions I was hoping Y-DNA research could help us answer is:

Do all ?Leals? have a common paternal ancestor (including variations such as Lel, Lyell, Lillie, Lilly, Lea and others)?

Until a few days ago, I could not answer this question because I believed I was the only Leal who had done a Y-DNA test.? This is not the case.

I have been referred to a website which has a database with Y-DNA information which I was previously unaware of (the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation;? http://smgf.org/).? The database contains the Y-DNA results of two individuals who bear the name Leal.

THE ANSWERThe answer to the question reads:? No, not all Leals have a common paternal ancestor.

THE THREE TESTED LEALSThe first Leal to whom I compared my Y-DNA results to is a descendant of a person called LEAL, Manuel, who was born on the Isle of Pico in the Azores on 8 January 1868.

The second Leal to whom I compared my Y-DNA results is a descendant of a person called LEAL SOARES, Joao who was born in Sao Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil in the year 1845.? I should say that it is not totally clear that this individual?s paternal surname is indeed Leal.? It may be Soares, because I understand that under the Portuguese / Brazilian naming convention the order in which the paternal and maternal surname are given to children is Maternal Name ? Paternal Name, so [Child] [Mother] [Father] instead of [Child] [Father] [Mother] which is common in Spain and Spanish Latin American countries.

I myself descend from a person called LEAL, Cruz who was probably born in the neighbourhood of Ubaque in Colombia in the early 19th century.

THE MATCHESOf the 17 markers which both the first Leal and I have tested, 5 matched.? The statistical likelihood that the tested descendant of the first Leal and I have a common paternal ancestor during the last 49 generations is 0.0%.

Of the 16 markers which both the first Leal and I have tested, 3 matched.? The statistical likelihood that the tested descendant of the first Leal and I have a common paternal ancestor during the last 49 generations is 0.0%.

I can now thus positively say that I ? a person with the paternal surname Leal ? am not related to at least two other persons with the surname Leal, so that not all Leals have a common paternal ancestor.

I cannot say whether the first and second Leals are related to one another.? The match summary only shows whether or not a particular marker is the same as my marker value.? I will try to establish the marker values of the other two Leals in order to determine whether or not they are related to one another.? Furthermore, I cannot contact the two Leals who did the tests because the test is done on a anonymous basis.

MATCHES WITH LEAL NAME VARIATIONSThe match summary also shows the match results of persons with variations of the name Leal, or at least names which seems to look like variations.? The results of the comparison between their Y-DNA material and mine is listed below in the following order:

#.? SURNAME;? (Location of person tested):? exact marker match out of total number of markers tested:? statistical likelihood of common paternal ancestor during the last 49 generations (?SL?);? Oldest known paternal ancestor (?OKPA?) of the person tested.